PROBLEMS OF THE COSSACK-HETMAN ERA IN THE WORKS OF MEMBERS OF SHEVCHENKO SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY IN GERMANY (1947–1950)

Abstract

The article analyzes the works dedicated to the Cossack-Hetman era by the members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Germany (1947–1950). The aforementioned works were composed, developed and published by the scholars who were the members of the Historical and Philosophical Section. The section included four commissions: historical commission, archeologicalcommission, law and social sciencescommission, and philosophical and pedagogicalcommission. In the present paper, the author proves that the main attention of the researchers was focused on the study of social, economic and foreign policy aspects of the filed. In particular, the issues of internal and foreign policy of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the functioning of a significantsociety of Hetmanate and multiple other facets were of high interest for the members of the Society.
The researchers prepared a special volume titled “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society”, which was dedicated to the three-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the National Liberation War (1648–1657). Among other issues, the tome itself covered various aspects offoreign policy of Bohdan Khmelnytskyі. The problem was rather topical due to the fact that in the Soviet historiography the events of the war did not receive sufficient coverage. The reason for this was the trend that Ukrainian-Russian and Ukrainian-Polish relations were examined in the scope of the theses to mark the 300th anniversary of Ukraine’s “reunification” with Russia.
Furthermore, the problem of the non-governmental hetman of the Hetmanate – a significant military society – attracted the attention of scientists. The monograph by the famous researcher Lev Okinshevych was dedicated to this topic. For a long time, it remained the only comprehensive study of the non-governmental hetman of the Hetmanate Region and formed the basis for researchon the subject forsubsequent generations of historians.
Therefore, the study of the works and academic activity of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Germany, especially the contributions made by its members towards the topic the Cossack-Hetman period of Ukrainian history, appears highly relevant in modern-day historiography paving the way for the further research into the subject.